Play in Process: A Place Called Home

Last updated on: April 14, 2011 at 8:05 pm by Richard Clark

Play in Process: A Place Called Home 2011-04-14T20:05:57-06:00 Richard Clark

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Each week in Play in Process, Richard Clark shares what he’s been playing and why it means something to him.

The other day, Drew mentioned playing Minecraft with a few friends of his. HOT SCOOP: I am one of those friends. I love Minecraft for all the reasons Drew mentioned, but I think the primary reason I love it so much is something that Kirk Hamilton articulated in a column over at Paste:

After a few (real-world) evenings’ worth of work, I sat back and realized that my cave had become a home. What’s more, I felt a stronger bond to this collection of bricks and blocks than just about any videogame home I’d had. Although I have branched out since then and begun to develop other corners of my Minecraft world, my first house will always hold a special place in my heart.

This little home I built in Minecraft is something I can come back to regularly, every day of the week, and improve upon. I can hang out with my friends there – we can magically hear one another from across the ocean. Things can go wrong, but the problems are easily solved.

Minecraft came along just at the right time – just as I began what would become an incredibly difficult and internally tumultuous week. As the real-world days continued and I continued to struggle with a reality that seemed to conspire against me, I found myself growing increasingly fond of my Minecraft home and all the feelings I associated with it: safety, security, friendship, productivity, and peace. A little glimpse of Heaven, maybe?

Obviously, there’s a danger that I will retreat to Minecraft at the expense of real-world living, and that I might view Minecraft as the source of my peace rather than a relationship with God through Christ. That is not happening to me. I know this because every single time I log in to Minecraft I feel compelled to say a little prayer. I thank God for Minecraft.

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